Modern homes have carpets that provide insulation, sound reduction and comfort. These carpets are susceptible to staining and soil intrusion from the feet of inhabitants. Many companies have invented cleaning devices using suction to draw out dirt and soil. Other cleaning devices use wet cleaning wherein steam or detergent enriched water is sprayed on the carpet and immediately extracted by suction. These carpet cleaners have a wand that has sprayers near a nozzle end and a suction tube and are configured to be used while a person is standing. Since people are of different heights or hold the wand in different ways, it is necessary to have wands of different lengths. Also, carpet cleaners may be used over different surfaces, such as stairs, during the same job and therefore adjustability in the nozzle is needed.
Prior art wand design of Mayhew (U.S. Pat. No. 5,113,547) has a telescoping wand length and an adjustable nozzle. The wand length telescopes inside an outer sleeve and is locked in place by a locking slip nut. The locking slip nut requires multiple twists of the slip nut to compress a compression ring against the tube. This method is low profile in design but requires two hands to adjust and takes valuable time to twist the nut to unlock and lock in place. The nozzle is adjustable through an arc of 30-60 degrees but is not rotatable about the wand axis, nor is it quick-release to change nozzles.
There is a need in the art for a wand that is easily adjustable in length and can be adjusted by one hand. There is also a need in the art for an easily replaceable nozzle that also allows rotation about the tube axis.